March 13--Former state Rep. Keith Farnham, who is awaiting sentencing on child pornography charges, ran away from home as a child to escape sexual abuse and was later raped by a man who took him in off the streets of New York, his lawyer said in a court filing Thursday.
Farnham, 67, an Elgin Democrat, faces a mandatory minimum of five years in prison after pleading guilty to online trading of thousands of images and videos of child pornography depicting victims as young as toddlers. Federal sentencing guidelines call for up to about 15 years behind bars.
In seeking the minimum sentence, Farnham's attorney, Terry Ekl, detailed for the first time the former legislator's traumatic upbringing in a small town in Maine, where he was allegedly sexually abused between the ages of 6 and 10 by a boy older than him.
At 13, Farnham ran away to New York, where he lived on the streets for several weeks before being taken in by a man who promised food and shelter but instead repeatedly raped him, Ekl said. After he returned to Maine, Farnham was arrested for stealing a car and placed in a home for juvenile delinquents. He received "positive support and assistance" there that led to him joining the U.S. Navy and turning his life around, Ekl said.
Farnham, who moved to Elgin in 1977, served as a state legislator from 2009 until resigning after his arrest in March 2014.
In a court filing Thursday, prosecutors said that while the Illinois House was in session, the Yahoo! account Farnham used to trade pornography was logged into from a hotel in Springfield as well as from a network used by a House committee.
Ekl had sought to delay next week's sentencing because Farnham's advanced lung disease and other ailments have potentially left him with only six months to live. U.S. District Judge Edmond Chang refused the request but said he would consider delaying the date Farnham must report to prison.
jmeisner@tribpub.com
